David Hughes is the Daily Telegraph's chief leader writer. He has been covering British politics for 30 years.

Anyone for green humbugs?

Full coverage of UK PoliticsThe unfathomable capacity for politicians to insist that we should do what they say, not what they do, is wearing thin, particularly on green issues. Over at Iain Dale's blog there is a first rate gripe from an aggrieved reader over this week's report from the Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee which complained that the Government had not gone far enough in ramping up vehicle excise duty to force people into greener cars.

Tim Yeo: Do as I say don't do as I do

The reader says he bought 1.8 Zaphira in 2001 (which is the year this spiteful, retrospective tax grab kicks in) and asks:

"Should I pay a penalty (=fine) of around Â£250/350 or more per year VED for the next ten-odd years, to be used towards propping up our country's collapsing economy, because I now own a gas guzzler, or spend Â£13,000 plus from my rapidly diminishing pension pot to order a new greener car, manufactured from the world's remaining resources, in order to only pay another Â£100 VED ?"

Not only does this anonymous reader skewer the incoherence of the VED policy brilliantly, he also takes a parting pop at the committee's chairman, Tim Yeo, noting "that apart from being an MP, he also travels all over Europe reviewing golf courses."

In other words, Yeo's carbon footprint is going to be many times bigger than the aggrieved pensioner's – yet it doesn't prevent him pontificating on green issues.

Al Gore is the most egregious example of this approach to greening the planet. He has made a handsome fortune as an environmental evangelist, yet it emerges that his home in Tennessee consumes 20 times as much energy as the US average – and has risen by 10 per cent in the past year alone.

Why should people take lectures on carbon emissions from such preposterous humbugs?